29. Yes, but we have laws and a culture that prohibits executing people for "blasphemy"

50. We have R/R running for president/vp with loads of radical Teabaggers in Congress. We are looking

down the road and with this crowd a legal religious stoning could already in their vocabulary. When they are blind enough to put person-hood on the table and legislate vaginal probes, You really think anything is out of bounds.They are fanatics and they cannot be trusted to do the best thing for the people of our country.

63. Stow your race-baiting

Note that what is now the Islamic third world used to be a lot more moderate, more moderate than the West...before it became the third world. The United States was radically socially conservative prior to the reforms of the 30's and then the 60's. Today, Germany and Japan are much more centrist than their war-time and early post-war days. We can go back to the far-right just as Pakistan can go to the center.

"That sort of thing comes out of a VERY different sort of culture." This statement smacks of ethnic prejudice. Everyone can see the sense of superiority and the people you would want to move to your side would instead be repelled by that kind of language.

What is happening in Pakistan right now is, in fact, a fight to move to the center. That is what the civil war is about, ultra-rightists not being able to accept that change and resisting it violently. Americans, DUers and the rest of the world would do well to understand this fact and avoid attacking their religion and culture. People identify with those two things much more strongly than the simple question of whether this girl did anything wrong. Attack someones' identity and they stop listening to everything else you might say. The hope for changing their mind goes out the window.

69. Reads like a post from Stormfront. nt/

60. WE also have people

on sites that free republic that are prefectly ok with cases like Madonna being sued in Russia for supporting gay rights. "I hope they nail that #$%#$" and crap like that. You don't think it could happen here? Put those people and their supporters in charge for 4 years and things will get uncomfortable in this country for people like you and me.

38. What Have You Done to Make the World a Better Place?

Two weeks ago, over 100 people from my church got together and passed out 1,500 backpacks full of schools supplies for poor children. We also fed them and offered a host of other fun activities for the kids. This week end we are doing it again (this time aimed at the homeless) and we hope to make it a weekly event…all in the name of religion.

We also meet every Thursday night to provide meals for everyone from homeless, drug/alcohol abusers to people just down on their luck.....……again, all in the name of religion.

47. Welcome to DU.

Thank you for your efforts with the backpacks and the meals, etc.

I hope you will continue to participate in acts of kindness such as these. That said, I hope you would agree that there are also other groups who do these types of things that are not connected with any specific religion.

I spent the weekend adopting out animals. And while I'm a Christian myself, I was standing alongside several atheists and agnostics who were working just as hard as I was.

In my opinion, religion doesn't have a monopoly on either good nor evil. But it's unfortunate when people use religion to promote hate and harm (as with the young Pakistani girl) when it should be used to promote compassion and understanding.

36. See my post #35.

There are plenty of powerful people in this country who desire nothing more than to walk down the same road. This is a dangerous phenomenon about which one cannot afford to be compacent. Educate yourself.

39. There is a sizable cadre of people in this country

who view the Constitution as toilet paper - a sinful document which should be rejected in all its parts. Read the links. The dominionists believe in establishing "Old Testament" law as the law of the land. The differences between this "law" and the Shari'a law that has them so worked up is, fundamentally, zero. They believe in the death penalty for GLBT people and have been actively involved in proposing such a law in Uganda. Yes, American politicians have been a part of this. It's not an opinion, it is a FACT.

The Repuke party is now comprised, in significant part, of people with these truly psychotic delusions. Harper's and The Atlantic are not fringe publications, in case you hadn't noticed. and Rachel Maddow has done some exemplary work in exposing these lunatics.

Is it happening now? No. Are there those who wish it to be? Damn skippy there are. And they are, to repeat, influential in the Repuke party and are constantly seeking to expand their influence. That is how this country winds up with cretinous, bible-thumping morons like Todd Akin being elected to congress.

76. People are responsible for their own behavior - including us

I was pointing out that the US is engaging in brutal behavior itself, which can't be ignored. And inevitably some in brutalized societies will turn to extremism. It's human nature. The West shouldn't ignore its own bad behavior. That's selective memory.

It's easier for some to demonize the other. You wrote:

Except this kind of "idiocy and barbarism" in modern times tends to confine itself to Fundamentalist Islam in underdeveloped third world countries.

I have a hard time with this attitude when it's directed against countries that we are brutalizing. It's stereotypical imperial bigotry to demonize such victims.

42. Here we are...yet another tidbit of Christian extremism in this country. Akin's pal:

3. Kennedy held that the Bible should set our laws about rape and abortion. Kennedy is very explicit on this point, saying “In the Bible, the child of rape was allowed to live and the rapist was put to death. Today, we find that the penalties against rape have become more and more lenient, whereas the child is now the subject of capital punishment. Justice has been totally destroyed and perverted in that the guilty are practically allowed to go free and the innocent are killed.” This fits with Kennedy’s general view that we should “rebuild America based on the Bible.”

This is just one example of lunacy among tens of thousands of examples. Millions of Christians think the Bible is the literal truth, and a slew of ugly consequences flow from that. I repeat, religion is a pox upon our land.

9. Thank you for posting this link.

I have never read the entire declaration until now.
The US Constitution is not as good and progressive as is this document. Clearly, the USA is in violation of several provisions although it still prides itself on its freedom and liberty.
This would be a better world if the worlds only(for now) existing superpower embraced this Declaration of Human Rights and stopped undermining the United Nations at every oportunity. In fact, I have come to believe that the world may be better off without the undue influence of the USA.

8. Horrifying

15. "She was carrying a waste bag which also had pages of the Koran"???

According to the BBC, Pakistan's Minister For National Harmony told the BBC that the girl was known to have a mental disorder and that it seemed "unlikely she purposefully desecrated the Koran."
Yet, the mob demanded the girl's arrest and threatened to burn down Christian homes....Her parents have been taken into protective custody following threats and other Christian families have fled, according to the article.

"Between 2002-2010, Pakistan received approximately $18 billion in military and economic aid from the United States.
Western officials have claimed nearly 70% (roughly $3.4 billion) of the aid given to the military has been misspent.in 2002-2007 and used to cover the civilian deficit."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foreign_aid_to_Pakistan